Any one person reviewing manuscript/synopsis may come up with a point where you think “I disagree, they’ve missed the point”. If two or three reviewers come up with similar points you need to do something about it.

For me–going indie–it required a lot of hard work and effort. Not on just the writing part, but also the editing phases and so on.

This experience going solo on Amazon has given me some new appreciation for indie writers and less on trads.

My editors have been helpful in giving me some advice and pointers and a few other things along the way, but I don’t have any use for beta readers.

Being a writer is stressful enough. I don’t need numerous conflicting opinions or statements on how things should work in a given novel. Like I’ve been telling people: “If I’m smart enough, I’ll figure things out on my own in due time.”

Which usually begets another 10 to 20 years added on. But I’m not worried. I’m not in competition with anyone–even those I don’t like very much online.

As much as everyone will probably tell you about relying on others for advice and information, I prefer to work alone. It’s better that way.

From what I’m understanding about the different types of ‘readers’; it sounds like you have the definition of beta readers wrong. Beta readers are meant to read your work like the actual audience.

They aren’t telling you how to write your novels or how it should work. They are meant to read and let you know, as a reader, how they felt about the book/chapter. If they were confused, if they noticed something was off, how they felt about characters, etc. Every writer misses things about their work simply because it’s natural for your eyes to skip over things after you’ve wrote it, read it, and rewrote it so many times. PLUS you’re far too attached to your writing to read it objectively and see how the audience would view it.

Also, if I’m not wrong (someone tell me if I am), editors are meant for grammar mistakes. Where crit partners (a new term for me) are meant to break apart the mechanics of your chapters word by word and let you know if there are things that need work. So… what you’re actually saying is you don’t need crit partners. Which, in my opinion, seem to be an important part of making sure your book is ready for print. They all seem pretty important actually.

Your story is only as good as you allow it be. And that often means letting people tear it to shreds.

Join bookclubs too. Popular ones!

The more that people tear apart your story, the more you’re likely to be able to piece it back together in the best way possible. It’s a chance to rebuild it with more insight. It gives you more dots to connect.

Also having a book with a popular genre helps a lot. If you don’t, then you definitely want to join bookclubs.